Big-time bingo a bad bet for Birmingham

Birmingham has a history of selling itself out to outside interests. We should have learned our lesson. We should not do it again.

Throughout the city's early years, some of the biggest news stories involved visits from northern capitalists interested in investing in Birmingham's mineral riches. We welcomed them. They extracted the coal and iron ore from the ground, and they took much of the wealth produced out of the city.

The infusion of capital brought a lot of money to Birmingham in the beginning, and it made some folks here quite rich. Over time, though, the absentee ownership was a drag on the city's economy and an obstacle to progress.

What the city is contemplating now is worse.

Our history should give us pause as we read of Las Vegas interests poised to invest in the gullibility of Birmingham's residents. At least with the steel industry, there was underlying wealth in the natural resources, and it added to the Birmingham economy even as much of the money went north. With bingo, any money that flows to Las Vegas or other outside operators is a direct loss from our economy.

Gambling is designed to transfer wealth from the mathematically challenged to those who understand the odds and are intent on exploiting those who do not. It is not a sound foundation for economic growth.

The way Birmingham is structuring its bingo foray, requiring operators to have at least 1,000 machines, ensures that only the big, rich operators can open up shop here. Even if the bingo halls bear the imprint of local charities, the financing behind them likely will come from established players in the gambling industry. That suggests the profits will flow to Las Vegas or Atlantic City or Macon County.

Bingo supporters argue that Birmingham residents are already gambling, and they are just taking their money to Mississippi or Atmore or other places where gambling is legal. Bringing bingo home, they say, will create local jobs, local tax revenues and support to local charities. It also will bring tourists, and their money, into Birmingham, the advocates argue.

Those are valid points, worthy of consideration. On balance, though, gambling hurts families, and it hurts communities.

It also distorts politics. We have seen at the state level how the gambling debate can tie up the Legislature and divert it from the task of solving serious state issues. We also have seen how heavily the gambling interests invest in legislators, to the detriment of ordinary citizens who cannot afford to make such lavish contributions. Imagine what a big gambling presence could do to our already fractious local politics.

Big-time bingo is a bad bet for Birmingham.

There is a vast difference in investing to create wealth and investing merely to cause wealth to change hands. These operators do not seek to invest in Birmingham to make Birmingham richer. They do it to make themselves richer.